Assessor Delivers Property Tax Roll

Tulare County’s property tax roll for fiscal year 2012/13 has been delivered and shows a countywide net assessment of $26,620,080,486, which is .0687 percent less than the prior tax roll, Assessor Roland Hill announced today.

The assessor discovers and assesses all property within the county as required by law. The office must produce an assessment roll by July 1 of each year. Tulare County’s assessment roll was delivered on June 22, 2012. The assessment roll becomes the base upon which local property taxes are levied, collected, and distributed to the cities, county, and special districts to fund government services. A copy of the report is located on the Assessor’s website at: http://www.co.tulare.ca.us/government/assessor/forms.asp. The downloadable pdf file is called “Publication/Report: Tulare County Delivered Roll Values.”

“The continued value decline of the county’s residential properties is the main reason that this year’s tax roll is slightly less than the previous year’s assessment,” Hill said.

At the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, the Tulare County Assessor’s Office began proactively reviewing the value of single-family residences and condominiums based on analysis of market trends in Tulare County. More than 68,000 residential properties were considered for reductions. More than 49,500 residential properties received reductions. This review has reduced the tax roll by more than $3.5 billion in assessed value since 2008.

The current delivered tax roll reflects a slight increase in total assessments with 150,648 secured assessments and 23,221 unsecured assessments.

Impact to local governments

Hill said all incorporated cities within the county experienced lower assessments over last year, with the exception of the City of Woodlake, which showed an increase of .273 percent in net assessed values.  The City of Visalia showed the largest decline, followed by the cities of Tulare, Porterville, Exeter, Farmersville, Dinuba, and Lindsay.  The unincorporated countywide assessment saw a slight increase overall due to the strong agricultural economies and markets which are primarily represented by Williamson Act valuations.

Tulare County Administrative Officer Jean Rousseau said the overall decrease in countywide assessment has a negative impact for the County’s budget. For example, a 1 percent decrease in the overall assessment roll means an approximate $800,000 decline in revenue for the County. This year’s assessment roll will have a negative impact between $400,000 to $500,000.

Assessment Appeals

The Assessor reminds all Tulare County property owners that the assessment appeals filing period opened on July 2nd and will stay open for filing of appeals forms until November 30th.  Once the property owners receive their value notice cards, or their tax bills, and feel that their property tax assessment(s) exceed the current market value(s) they can file Application(s) For Changed Assessment with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors during the aforementioned filing period. Please call 559/636-5000 to reach the Clerk of the Board.